FarmerTy 215-gal No Water Change SPS Tank

[FarmerTy]

Blue Lemonade


Unnamed



Cultivated Reef Electric Miyagi


OG Miyagi Tort


Clowns and CSB



RRC Pink Cadillac


CC Inferno closeup

[FarmerTy]

Guess what's in the mail?

I'll give you a hint... Starts with alka... Ends with tronic.

After roughly calculating the amount of money I have in coral livestock, it was a no-brainer to get one as insurance. Now I can monitor my alk levels remotely every 2 hours if I wanted... No, I'm not doing that interval, probably once every 2 days will suffice.

[Jndragon79]

Nice, I haven't heard about this one. Why the alktronic and not kh guardian or eventually the trident when it comes out

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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Jndragon79

Nice, I haven't heard about this one. Why the alktronic and not kh guardian or eventually the trident when it comes out

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Main reasons for not waiting for the Trident by Neptune.

1) Release date keeps getting pushed back over and over now
2) I don't necessarily need to monitor Ca or Mg on any frequency more than once a quarter
3) It uses only one pump so there will be a lot of flushing involved as well as back and forth on the pump. I see myself replacing that pump often. The alkatronic has 4 pumps
4) You have to have the newer Apex for it to run. I only have the classic so that's another cost.
5) Purely speculative but Neptune is all about the money right now. I'm going to guess they'll sell the units at a reasonable price compared to other alk controllers on the market but then kill you with reagent prices. The price for a 4L bottle of the alkatronic reagent is $110, which equates to 2 tests/day for a year. For my potential 1 test/2 days, that's a 4 year supply right there.

The most important reason though is this is available now and I'm feeling a bit naked with protection for alk swings that can kill my tank. If the Neptune one turns out to be a great product and not too costly, I can always sell this one and buy the Neptune one. I just need something now while we all wait for it to come out.

I was told to stay away from the KH Guardian so I didn't even bother looking at it.

[FarmerTy]

Fun night of lighting repairs...

Had a ballast go out on my ATI fixture. Luckily I have a whole spare ATI fixture so I borrowed a ballast from it. Let the transplant begin!



Here's some smoke marks on the bad ballast and the smoke left on the fixture.




Also, my SBREEF bars have violet diodes in them. Apparently at that spectrum, acrylic can burn. There were haze marks and burns on the acrylic where each violet LED diode was. I went ahead and made the decision to drill out the acrylic cover and open the fixture to the elements. Its nice that it was sealed so nicely but my Ocean Revive units run similar diodes and are completely not sealed and have lasted for 3-4 years now so I'm not too worried these are open to the elements now.

[Bpb]

Originally Posted by FarmerTy

Fun night of lighting repairs...

Had a ballast go out on my ATI fixture. Luckily I have a whole spare ATI fixture so I borrowed a ballast from it. Let the transplant begin!



Here's some smoke marks on the bad ballast and the smoke left on the fixture.




Also, my SBREEF bars have violet diodes in them. Apparently at that spectrum, acrylic can burn. There were haze marks and burns on the acrylic where each violet LED diode was. I went ahead and made the decision to drill out the acrylic cover and open the fixture to the elements. Its nice that it was sealed so nicely but my Ocean Revive units run similar diodes and are completely not sealed and have lasted for 3-4 years now so I'm not too worried these are open to the elements now.

Thinking about buying new ballasts and fans and replacing them on my ati fixture preemptively since it is several years old now. Is it an easy job for someone who is 100% an electronics and diy moron, but generally not completely stupid?


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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Bpb

Thinking about buying new ballasts and fans and replacing them on my ati fixture preemptively since it is several years old now. Is it an easy job for someone who is 100% an electronics and diy moron, but generally not completely stupid?


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Well, I don't consider myself electronically inclined but I'm decently handy.

Removing the fans and the AC cord grommet without scratching and denting your fixture to death is the most difficult part of the job. There's a good YouTube video from ATI showing you how to do it.

Ballast is super easy... Line them up side by side (old and new) and pull one wire off the old and put it in the new one. That way you don't accidentally rewire incorrectly.

[Ostentum]

Originally Posted by FarmerTy

Guess what's in the mail?

I'll give you a hint... Starts with alka... Ends with tronic.

After roughly calculating the amount of money I have in coral livestock, it was a no-brainer to get one as insurance. Now I can monitor my alk levels remotely every 2 hours if I wanted... No, I'm not doing that interval, probably once every 2 days will suffice.

Hey Ty Where did you buy the Alkatronic from? i was thinking about getting one of these also for the 130g then moving it over to the 375g once its up and running

[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Ostentum

Hey Ty Where did you buy the Alkatronic from? i was thinking about getting one of these also for the 130g then moving it over to the 375g once its up and running

I bought it straight from Coralvue. I'll let you know this weekend what I think if I get a chance to play with it. It should come in tomorrow.

[FarmerTy]

CC Habanero Anacropora

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Pengs Inferno Granulosa

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WWC Blue Monster

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OG Strawberry Shortcake Magna '97

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Boom Corals Red Loripes

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Cornbred Bubblegum Digi

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Nicks Purple Passion

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Cornbred Blue Tort

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RCA Baton Rouge

[tripdad]

Your building quite the collection there, nice stuff!

[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by tripdad

Your building quite the collection there, nice stuff!

Thanks! I'm quite packed right now in the frag tank so just letting things grow out from this point. I'll place my favorites in the display and keep the others in the frag tank to grow out.

[Bpb]

Ty. I’ve had this one for about 1.5 years with VERY minimal growth. Got it as a random acquisition. Not as a mariculture from a shop. But from another guy as just a random “this this this and this” off the rack deal. Didn’t inquire about names as they were essentially free. It looks a lot like that nicks purple passion. You just posted. Ideas? It’s been an enigma for me because it’s sooooooo purple and it grows insanely slow I don’t want to get rid of it or move it ha ha.




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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Bpb

Ty. I’ve had this one for about 1.5 years with VERY minimal growth. Got it as a random acquisition. Not as a mariculture from a shop. But from another guy as just a random “this this this and this” off the rack deal. Didn’t inquire about names as they were essentially free. It looks a lot like that nicks purple passion. You just posted. Ideas? It’s been an enigma for me because it’s sooooooo purple and it grows insanely slow I don’t want to get rid of it or move it ha ha.




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I can see the potential for it to be the Nicks Purple Passion but probably need to see new growth to really know bud... Which at your current rate on that one may be 2 years?

[Bpb]

Originally Posted by FarmerTy

I can see the potential for it to be the Nicks Purple Passion but probably need to see new growth to really know bud... Which at your current rate on that one may be 2 years?

No kidding. No idea why this one is so slow going. It was bought by a guy that bought a bunch from SAM back in the day and I know Sam used to sell that piece


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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Bpb

No kidding. No idea why this one is so slow going. It was bought by a guy that bought a bunch from SAM back in the day and I know Sam used to sell that piece


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Yeah, that's who I got my NPP from.

[FarmerTy]

My alkatronic unboxing. I was able to unbox it without any papercuts or muscle strains.

https://youtu.be/dYS4o2hNnXg

[Jndragon79]

Nice Ty. I've been doing some research on the alkatronic and I have to say that it is pretty sleek. Not going to lie, you brought up some interesting points and based on some of the forum reading, there are several issues with some folks on the Kh guardian and the trident is yet to be announced. I like the fact that the alkatronic uses heavy duty pumps and the solution lasts for a very long time. For long term use, it appears to be the cheaper to run among the three and pretty slick. The biggest selling point is that you can have it integrate with Alex fusion for graphing and that it has the ability to turn off your doser with that programmable outlet. So many wins for it. Can't wait to hear you use it and pro and cons with it.

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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Jndragon79

Nice Ty. I've been doing some research on the alkatronic and I have to say that it is pretty sleek. Not going to lie, you brought up some interesting points and based on some of the forum reading, there are several issues with some folks on the Kh guardian and the trident is yet to be announced. I like the fact that the alkatronic uses heavy duty pumps and the solution lasts for a very long time. For long term use, it appears to be the cheaper to run among the three and pretty slick. The biggest selling point is that you can have it integrate with Alex fusion for graphing and that it has the ability to turn off your doser with that programmable outlet. So many wins for it. Can't wait to hear you use it and pro and cons with it.

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Great summary Justin! That's exactly why I pulled the trigger on it instead of waiting around for the Trident to do a full comparison of the 3.

Also, the 4L reagant bottle I bought expires in 2021 so looks like a good 3 years use out of this bad boy for $110, not bad at all. That's almost 1 test a day at that point, which was more than I was even planning to do but if it expires anyways, might as well use it up!

[Jndragon79]

That is a long time for the reagent. Not going to lie, based on your bullets and reefbuilder review, I'm 90% sold.

The big decider was the apec integration. I do plan to test once a day if I get it. My hesitation of 10% is that I had a really bad experience with coralvue customer support when I had issues with their icecap ballast. After a year of going back and forth with multiple units, I took the loss and went with workhorses. Now if they use another distributor, I would be happy.

Crossing my fingers for brs so I can use points but I think they are going to just run the trident when it comes out

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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Jndragon79

That is a long time for the reagent. Not going to lie, based on your bullets and reefbuilder review, I'm 90% sold.

The big decider was the apec integration. I do plan to test once a day if I get it. My hesitation of 10% is that I had a really bad experience with coralvue customer support when I had issues with their icecap ballast. After a year of going back and forth with multiple units, I took the loss and went with workhorses. Now if they use another distributor, I would be happy.

Crossing my fingers for brs so I can use points but I think they are going to just run the trident when it comes out

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Awesome! I do love helping people spend their hard earned money!

Let's hope we don't run into epic Coralvue problems with customer support. I've never had to deal with them in that aspect.

[Jndragon79]

Yeah, gear is always sexy and that monitor is up there. Sadly the good stuff is expensive. Saving my pennies though.

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[FarmerTy]

If you've ever wondered what a Colorado Sunburst anemone looks like if it was subjected to flow designed for an SPS-dominant tank... It would look something like this!

https://youtu.be/r7ybfcQLHjI

[FarmerTy]

As if Colorado Sunburst Anemones aren't cool enough, one of my splits turned out as a half and half... Half red... Half orange.

I hope it'll stay this way long-term!

[FarmerTy]

Hmmm... Something seems wrong here. I just tested my alk with a Hanna meter right beside my never been turned on Alkatronic. #getonitdude #openupthemanual